The Brat
by dippycippy
Summary: Neal is left behind to be supervised by Diana and he is not happy. WARNING:There is spanking in this story. If it is not your thing please dont read it!
1. Chapter 1

**The Brat**

Neal was as close to pouting that you could be when you are a full grown adult. How could Peter go off for a whole week and tell him that Diana was in charge. He really thought that they had a good relationship and that Peter trusted him now. No way was he going to obey orders from Diana. He worked hard to get to a place where they were friends and now he was going to have to obey her as if she was his mother. Well maybe that was an exaggeration but it was certainly the dynamic he had with Peter. At least he thought so. Maybe Peter didn't think of him that way. Maybe he didn't mean anything to him; just a CI who needed watching so that he didn't lose his job. Well he would show them. His head was spinning. There was no way he was going to go into work. Like he needed a babysitter!

"Where are you Neal?" Diana said into the phone. She certainly sounded exasperated.

"I'm not coming in today. I work for Peter and since he is not here, I will not be there either." He had meant it to sound confident but he sounded like a nine year old instead.

"Neal Caffrey, are you kidding me. Peter told me to make sure you do what you are supposed to. Get your butt here in the next half hour or I will come find you!"

Who does she think she is yelling at me as if I am a small child? "You can come after me if that is how you choose to spend your day but just remember it took Peter four years to catch me." He was smirking to himself at that last remark.

Diana sighed knowing that he was one hundred percent right. "What the hell is your problem Caffrey? I thought we were friends. Peter is gonna be pissed off and so is Hughes. We have work to do and I don't appreciate the way you are treating me."

Now he was beginning to feel bad but not bad enough to go in. Peter dumped him with a babysitter. If Peter doesn't care about him than why should he care if he was pissed off? "I'm sorry Diana, I didn't mean to take this out on you, but if Peter thinks he can just dump me off on someone then he has another thing coming. He is my handler so let him handle me!"

This statement came out with authority and Diana was surprised and confused. He sounded confident but the words were a glorified temper tantrum. "Neal. I don't know what your problem is but if you don't show up here I am going to have to either come get you or call Peter. He won't be happy about me bothering him and if he gets on my case, you will pay!"

Neal didn't really care at this point and was sure that by the time Peter returned in a week's time no one would care that he had not gone to work since he was just a criminal who helped Peter so that he could keep his case numbers up. "I guess you will have to call him then because I am not coming in!" With that statement, he hung up the phone.

Diana knew she should call Peter but she decided to wait and give Neal a chance to do the right thing. They didn't have any pressing cases at the moment and she could live without him there for the time being. She thought she was being nice to Neal but this only make Neal even more agitated because Peter didn't even call to reprimand him. He was never more certain that Peter didn't care about him than he was now. And to think, he had worked so hard to do the right thing and help. So what if once in a while he got into some trouble. He couldn't really help himself, but he was trying because he wanted to make Peter proud. Well that was the end of that. It has been two whole days and not even a phone call.


	2. Chapter 2

"Neal, what the hell are you doing? I keep getting alerts on my phone that you are stepping out of your radius. As soon as I look at it you go back in. Are you drunk or something?" She was really angry and even though Neal felt bad, but he didn't stop.

"I am just hanging out and I guess my leg has a mind of its own. Sorry."

"Are you kidding me? I think you have lost your mind. I have better things to do than answer my phone every five minutes because you are playing some kind of game with me. In case you didn't know, I work for the FBI. The next time I get one of these calls I am going to send the marshals to investigate. Are we clear?"

"Crystal!" Would Diana really do that? Peter probably told her that if he acted up she should just sic the marshals on him. After all he was their problem. He was now going into a full blown sulk. He spent the next 2 days moping around his apartment, drinking wine and eating jelly beans. "Not even one phone call to tell me off. I can't believe it. I must have really screwed up our relationship with all of my 'shenanigans'."

The next morning Diana was in need of Neal's expertise. She knew that it was going to be a fight but she really didn't want to bother her boss. She wanted him to think that she could handle things while he was away. He had said to call if there was a problem and she was starting to think that she should have called right away but she didn't so now it was up to her to handle this on her own.

"Morning, Neal. I really need you to come in today. I have a case that requires your expert opinion." Diana was basically pleading.

"Sorry Diana, but as I have said before, I work with Peter, and if he is not there then neither am I."

"Neal Caffrey, why are you doing this to me? I really thought we were friends but I see now that we are just co-workers. I tried to let this entire bull slide since I don't really know what your problem is, but you have been downright disrespectful and I should have called Peter the first day. Now i…"

"Wait! You never called Peter? I don't understand."

"No Neal, I didn't want him to get on your case. I didn't have any pressing work and I figured you would come to your senses and show up."

"I'm so sorry Diana. I didn't mean to bring you into this. It is a problem between me and Peter. But if you never called him then it is probably a problem only with me. I'll be there in a half hour!"

Diana was relieved and she felt better knowing that Neal was not doing anything deliberately to hurt her. She really felt that they had become friends. She waited patiently for him to show up and true to his word, he swaggered in 30 minutes later.

He ran up to her and gave her a quick hug and apologized again quickly. He thanked her for not ratting him out even though he had wanted her to.

"What have you got for me?"

"There was a theft at that small gallery on Christopher Street. Here are the floor plans. A few pieces were taken but no alarms were tripped and the cameras were blocked. Tell me how it was pulled off."

As Neal was concentrating on his thoughts, he failed to notice that Peter had entered the room and came up behind him. He was startled from his thoughts by Peter pulling him into a semi hug. He immediately returned the gesture and was starting to feel extra guilty. Peter greeted his entire team and was about to regale them with stories of his business trip when he noticed Hughes at the top of the steps giving him the two finger point. He quickly excused himself and jogged up the stairs.

Neal began to feel butterflies in his stomach. Peter was really happy to see him and now when he found out how he had acted, it would be the last straw. Maybe he would regret his decision not to send him off with Kramer. Maybe he would send him back to prison. No he would not do that. El would kill him. He tried hard to concentrate on the case but he kept finding himself staring longingly at Hughes closed door. He was pulled out of his musings by the two finger point now directed at him and Diana. He looked over to her sadly and they both ascended the staircase together.


	3. Chapter 3

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"Neal, don't worry, I will not make it seem as bad as it was." Diana smiled in his direction. She was worried for him. Peter looked positively livid.

"No Way, Diana. This was all me and I will take the full rap." He put his arm on her shoulder and they walked slowly into Peter's office and stood at attention. Neal watched his friend and handler try hard to calm himself. He was breathing deeply and the veins in his neck were protruding. This was not a good sign. He felt bad when the first bit of Peter's wrath was directed not at him but at Diana.

"What the hell went on here this week? Why was I not called?" He all but screamed.

"Sorry, boss. There was really no big deal and I didn't want to bother you."

Now Neal stepped in. He looked very solemn and his head was hung. "Please, this was not Diana's fault. I don't know what got into me. I was disrespectful to her and this job. I don't even know why. I would understand completely if you wanted to send me back to prison." His head never rose.

Peter almost started to feel bad for Neal but he knew that he needed to remain firm. "I don't care whose fault anything is. Diana should have called me. I had to be blasted by Hughes for you playing games with your radius and not showing up here when they needed you. I also had to convince him that you are necessary and I would find a way to keep you in line." He then turned toward Diana. "I will leave this as a warning but I am disappointed in you Diana. I need to know that you put your work responsibility ahead of your friendship. I guess it could be said that I am guilty of the same thing so we will leave it but in the future, please take more responsibility when I leave you in charge. You know I consider you my right hand man." He looked up at her with a grin and dismissed her with a tilt of his head.

Peter paced the office for a few minutes noting that Neal had not looked him in the eye as of yet. "Look at me please." He waited as his young friend slowly lifted his head and his big blue eyes were on the verge of tears. He put a hand on his shoulder and softened his tone. "Please tell me what got into you."

"I'm sorry Peter. I felt like you didn't trust me and then I figured Diana called you and you didn't even bother to call and reprimand me so I figured you gave up on me." Once again his head dropped and Peter was sure he saw an actual tear escape and drip down his face. "I was an idiot!"

He looked like a teenager awaiting punishment and that turned a light bulb on in Peter's head. "Yes, I will agree that you did not act in a very mature manner. I thought that by not calling you would see that I did trust you and didn't feel the need to check up on you. I even told El not to call because I thought you would think she was doing my checking. I see that I went about it incorrectly. You would have to do much more than put a leg outside your radius for me to send you to prison. I thought you knew that I consider you more than a CI or friend. We think of you as part of the family." He noticed Neal begin to smile at that statement and his head began to rise. "I would not start smiling yet little boy! As I can see that it was my attention that you were looking for, you are going to get it. Please get your things and go home. I will tell El that you are on the way. Say hello and go up into the guest room and stay there until I get home."

Neal's eyes opened wider than he thought possible. "What do you mean home to your house. Why?"

"Because you acted like a child and I am going to treat you like one. Now GO!" He stated very matter of a fact and in a no nonsense tone. Neal jumped and left the office.

He took his time and pondered what Peter meant by treat him like a child. And he called him little boy. It should have angered him, but it didn't. Still he had a very uneasy felling. When El opened the door she pulled him into a hug kissed his head.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I told Peter that I wanted to have you over when he was gone, but he told me that he didn't want you to think I was checking up on you. I knew I was right."

Neal smiled at Elizabeth and he could feel how much love she had for him. "I was childish and it is not your fault. I am worried though. Peter seemed pretty angry."

"He is. As a matter of a fact, I believe he told you to go right up to your room and I would do my best to obey at this point because I really haven't heard that kind of determination in his voice in a while. I will bring you up some lunch in a bit. There are sweats on the bed so you can change."

My room? This was getting stranger by the minute. Neal went up and changed into the sweats. He felt strange to be confined to the bedroom but he thought it best not to anger Peter any further so he sat down on the bed. Before he knew it he was being woken up by Elizabeth with a lovely tray of food and a glass of wine. "I didn't get anything like this in prison."

"Well you are not in prison, just grounded!" She said and watched his face fall slightly.

"Grounded, you mean like a kid?"

"Peter's words, not mine. Anyway sweetie, he will be home in a little while. Enjoy your lunch. I was told that grounded children were not allowed to have company." She smiled at him and gave him another peck on the cheek as she left the room. She could see the uneasy look on his face and thought, "If he only knew."

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

What seemed like hours of waiting and thinking was probably about forty-five minutes. He heard Peter come in the door downstairs as the butterflies were welling up again in his stomach. He tried to listen to what they were saying but he could not hear a thing. About ten minutes later, he heard the heavy footsteps of his friend. He entered the room with a knock as he opened the door. "Hey, What if I was indisposed?"

"Then I guess I may have got a glance of your ass!" He looked over to him and offered up a slight grin. Neal looked like he was awaiting the electric chair. He was beginning to rethink his approach. Neal was scared to death and didn't even know what Peter had planned. But he had to go through with it or one day Neal would push too far and he never wanted him to go back to prison.

Neal said nothing so Peter began his lecture. "I am going to speak and I don't want you to interrupt me. I feel bad now that I did not call you this week but that does not change the fact that you acted like a child and mistreated Diana and did not hold up your end of our deal. There has to be consequences for your actions and I have made a decision. You will be grounded to this house for one week. You will come to work with me and home with me. Cell phone will only be for emergency purposes. There will be no computer or television. I will give you some cold mortgage fraud cases to look over. Perhaps you will find something and get us back in Hughes' good graces. You will also be Diana's chore boy for two days. Whatever she wants you to do. When you are here you will come down to eat but other than that you are confined to your room. Are we clear so far?"

Neal looked at his as if he had ten heads. "Are you serious? You are going to treat me like a little kid?"

"I am deadly serious. You don't even know the half of it." He looked over at Neal again. His eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open. "You will also receive a tanning!" He watched as Neal's mouth went fully open and his eyes opened even wider.

"What! You can't do that. It is against the law!" He was once again reduced to sounding like a toddler.

"No, it is not against the law. If I would spank a child to the point of leaving bruises, then it would be against the law, but you are not a child and I have no intention of leaving any bruises." Peter stated in a matter of a fact tone. "It is certainly unusual but if it is consensual there will be no problem." He looked deeply into his friend's eyes to gauge his reaction.

"You think I am going to consent to this? I would be crazy to. I have never been spanked in my life."

"There's a shock." Peter said only slightly under his breath. "Yes I do because it will clear the air and you will feel better and whether or not you say it's ok, I am going to do it. You need some consequence and short of sending you to prison, I have no other option. All will be forgiven and we can start fresh. When it is over you can report me for spanking your naughty behind if you like but for now, drop your sweats and lay over the bed please."

Neal stood frozen in his place unable to make himself obey. He thought of running out, but his legs wouldn't do that either. It was as if in slow motion, Peter approached him and pushed him over the bed. He was so shocked that he had not even noticed that his pants were lowered in the process until he felt a chill in his posterior that he didn't realize he would appreciate in a few minutes. "Whaa! OW!" He was beginning to protest when Peter landed a pretty mighty swat with his hand to quiet him. He threw his hand back to protect himself but Peter grabbed it and held it to the small of his back.

"I understand that this is your first experience with this so I will let it go that you did not obey me immediately. In the future, when I tell you to do something you will do it right away without question." On that statement, he added another smack.

"Yes, OK, are we done now?"

"Certainly not. You are to stay in this position and do not put your hands back. I don't want you to get hurt."

"What are you talking about, you are hurting me! Please, I get it. No more." He was almost crying already and Peter hadn't even started. The next sound he heard made him want to pass out. It was the very distinct sound of a belt leaving its loops. It was as if it was the only sound in the world at the time. "Pleeaasseeee, nooo. I promise I will do whatever you say all the time."

"Sorry Buddy but we are not leaving here until I say." On that note, Peter began landing the belt in no particular pattern all over his partner's behind. Neal was bucking and crying out for it to be over but Peter continued to light a fire on his behind that would serve as a reminder for at least a few days on who was in charge. At one point, Neal put his hand back so Peter lowered the whacks to his thighs. Amazing how quickly he removed his hand. Peter felt that Neal was reaching his limit so he slowed the tanning and began to speak. "Are we going to have to repeat this lesson any time soon?" He accentuated that with two fairly hard blows to his friend's sit spots.

"NOOOOOO! Never again! He was sobbing and tears were streaming down his face along with some very unpleasant things from his nose as well. As he was wiping his face with his arm, he felt Peter pull him up and into a hug. He should have wanted to punch him out but the comfort that was being offered was very appealing. He allowed himself to fall into his handler's chest and cry it out. His behind was on fire but he did feel better. He felt warm and safe and cared for and they stayed that way for a long time.

Peter was whispering to him that it was Ok now and that all was forgiven.

Neal was whimpering that he was sorry over and over. Peter was sure at one point he even heard him say Dad.

TBC…


	5. epilogue

The week was going a bit slow for Neal but he was happy when he was allowed to go down and share meals with the Burkes. He really felt like part of a family and truth be told he was a bit sad to be leaving. When Peter wasn't around, El snuck up and spent some time with him and even Peter made some excuses to hang out in the room with him. It was his last night there and when dinner was over he stood to go back to 'his room'.

"Wait a minute Buddy, I want to talk with you." Peter didn't sound angry but seemed to have a determination in his voice. He waited for Neal to sit again and continued. "You did really well this week and it has made me see that I have been taking the wrong approach with our relationship." He watched Neal's face pale a bit at this revelation and waited to see what he had to say.

"Does this mean that you plan on punishing me on a regular basis?" Neal stuttered out.

" I hope not because I hope that this has taught you to obey my orders and trust that I have your best interests in mind." He smiled over at Neal but could still see the uneasiness in his face.

Elizabeth got up and stood behind Neal placing a kiss on his head. "We love you sweetie and we don't want you to get hurt or go back to prison."

Elizabeth's declaration of love for him made him soften to what Peter was saying. That was evident on his face so Peter continued.

"From now on any acts of defiance or any putting yourself or our agreement in danger will result in you coming back here and receiving some sort of punishment. I won't allow you to get away with the small things any more that can lead to bigger things. Are we clear on this?"

"Yes sir, I think!" Neal said as he lowered his head.

"Good, I'll take that for now. Also, I want you to spend at least two nights a week here with us so we can talk outside of work and make sure we are on the same page. I won't specify which nights and it will be your responsibility to take care of it. You won't be a guest so I expect you to help out and be present for meals. You don't have to hang out with us the whole time you are here because I want you to feel at home. It will be my way of checking up on you but not in the handler, CI way but the way we check up on our family."

"Really, are you sure it won't be an imposition? I'm pretty sure I will never get myself into this position again!" He was so happy that they wanted him to be part of their family but still felt like he was just an obligation to Peter.

El and Peter went to him and wrapped him in a tight hug and told him that they wanted him in their lives. He never felt so loved and cared for since he was a small child and Ellen took care of him. He always felt like he needed an excuse to go hang out with them and now they were forcing him to. As much as he never wanted another meeting with Peter's belt, he certainly wanted to be part of their family. They thought that life was as perfect as can be. Their new chapter was going so well. Neal spent more and more time with them and was a fantastic addition to their household. They could see him adjusting so well to the boundaries and it was two months before he found himself in trouble again. It was such a small infraction and the punishment wasn't as harsh as the first one he had received but the way he felt after was the same. He felt like they cared.

The End!


End file.
